The news and information about the wonderful world of carbohydrate restriction along with the accompanying health headlines that dominate the media never slow down for anyone or anything. Stuff just keeps percolating out there and I try to keep an eye on [...]]]>
It’s time to restore some “balance” into low-carb news and health headlines

The news and information about the wonderful world of carbohydrate restriction along with the accompanying health headlines that dominate the media never slow down for anyone or anything. Stuff just keeps percolating out there and I try to keep an eye on it for you to sort the good from the bad. Here are just a few of the most interesting low-carb news and health headlines for September 2009.

STUDY: TYPE 2 DIABETICS NOT MEETING NUTRITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS

In the “Gee, I Wonder Why” department comes new research out of Wake Forest University School of Medicine that claims Type 2 diabetics are not following the dictates of the diet pushed on them by advocacy groups like the American Diabetes Association. GOOD! With idiotic recommendations like this why would they?

Looking at a survey of the food intake by 2,757 Type 2 diabetics, the researchers found that 93 percent ate more than the recommended percentage of calories from dietary fat, 85 percent consumed more saturated fat than the recommendation called for, and 92 percent took in more sodium than they were supposed to. Less than half got in the recommended minimums on fruits, veggies, dairy, and grains which are supposed to be “healthy” for them.

But you know what? This is FANTASTIC news! Wanna know why? Because it means enough diabetics are tired of being lied to about their health that they are taking control of their disease by consuming a high-fat, moderate-protein, low-carb diet that naturally cures the manifestations of their Type 2 diabetes. Kudos to the diabetics who understand the importance of carb control in keeping their blood sugar and insulin levels stabilized. And boo hiss to these idiot researchers who think there’s some kind of “education” deficiency at work here. Uh, no. It’s called enlightenment and hopefully it will reach them someday soon.

This study was published in the August 2009 issue of the Journal of the American Dietetic Association.

MEN’S HEALTH: WHAT IF BAD FAT IS ACTUALLY GOOD FOR YOU?

I love how Men’s Health magazine is so unashamed to share the nutritional truth for people in their columns thanks to people like Adam Campbell and others who aren’t stuck in dietary dogma. This is yet another fine example of honest journalism that is so refreshing to read in such a mainstream health publication. Dealing with the issue of saturated fat, which has been mistakenly tagged with the “bad fat” label alongside trans fats for far too long, we see fantastic evidence supporting the inclusion of MORE saturated fat in the diet to maximize health.

The column goes through the history of how saturated fat got such a bad rap when Ancel Keys made his famous proclamation in 1953 that fat increased cholesterol which led to heart disease fatalities. This “diet-heart” hypothesis stuck quickly in the minds of people because on the surface it seemed to make sense. But what if it was wrong? Dead wrong!

Today this notion that saturated fat is the culprit in heart disease and worse is predicated on a big fat lie which we learned about in Tom Naughton’s 2009 FAT HEAD documentary. Nevertheless, virtually every major health organization from the American Heart Association to the American Diabetes Association trumpets the “diet-heart” hypothesis as the gospel truth because by golly it must be after all this time, right? WRONG!

The seldom talked about FACTS about saturated fat is they almost always raise HDL “good” cholesterol, lower triglycerides, and provide better heart protection for people who combine their consumption of it with a simultaneous reduction in carbohydrate intake. Nevertheless, fat-phobia lives on in America despite numerous evidence to the contrary cited in this column that dietary fat is completely irrelevant when it comes to heart disease. How do you right a ship that’s been way off course for decades? Certainly, mainstream articles like this one in Men’s Health will go a long way towards educating the public and someday we’ll look back on these “low-fat” days shaking our heads wondering how we could have all been so deceived.

ARE THESE REALLY ‘CHOLESTEROL-LOWERING DIETS’?

Speaking of cholesterol, you’re gonna get nonsense like this out of the mainstream health for the most part because they are stuck on the notion that fats and saturated fats specifically are the devil. This column is a mixed bag, though, because they accurately point to the excessive carbohydrates and promote people find “the exact type” to eat. Hmmmm, what would that be? Oatmeal, oat bran, kidney beans, brussel sprouts, apples, pears, psyllium, barley, blueberries and prunes. Oh yummy!

While some of those foods are acceptable on a low-carb lifestyle change, some are not because they contain way too many carbohydrates. This notion that you need the fiber in some of these foods is just a ruse — many times there are a LOT more net carbs (the number of carbohydrates AFTER subtracting fiber from the total) than fiber itself. Giving a health halo to these foods while neglecting their impact on a wide range of health issues is wrong.

Additionally, the recommendation to “watch the quantity of red meat you eat” is even more evidence of the ignorance that exists out there. Yes, omega-3 fats are important as noted in the column, but don’t skimp on the eggs just because they have dietary cholesterol in them. The cholesterol myth is scaring people into thinking they will die from clogged arteries if they don’t lower their fat and cholesterol consumption, but nothing could be further from the truth. LDL and total cholesterol aren’t nearly as important as the triglyceride/HDL ratio as I discuss in my upcoming new book 21 Life Lessons From Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb. This information is too important to let it be twisted and distorted by those who have been severely misinformed.

HEATING HIGH-FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP CREATES HARMFUL SUBSTANCE

We already high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is bad news for your health, but it could be even worse for you when it is heated up. This new study published in the August 27, 2009 issue of Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that bees in warmer climates fed HFCS to help increase honey production can ingest dangerous levels of a poisonous substance to them called hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF). Upwards of one-third of the U.S. honeybee population has been killed off likely from the consumption of HMF created by heated HFCS. Now, if it’s doing all this to bees, then what the heck is it doing to the humans who are consuming it in just about every sugary soda and snack food on supermarket shelves today?

JIMMY MOORE’S ONE-HOUR INTERVIEW ON SEAN CROXTON’S RADIO SHOW

Mr. Sean “Underground Wellness” Croxton did a fabulous job asking me questions about my healthy low-carb lifestyle and it was so much fun! Take some time to listen to this one from start to finish and be encouraged in your low-carb way of life. There are people on your side!

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATOR LOOKS AT OBESITY-SUGARY SODA CONNECTION

California state Sen. Alex Padilla has thrown down the gauntlet and plans on holding hearing beginning in November about the link between sugary soda and the inevitable obesity that follows. As the chairman of the California Senate’s Select Committee on Obesity and Diabetes, Padilla is a powerful lawmaker who certainly is sharing concerns that many of my readers have about the problem with soda consumption in America. These hearings coincide with a new declaration by the American Heart Association in August who said people would be wise to cut back on their sugar consumption and more specifically their sugary sodas to keep calories in check. It’s so much more than calories, though. We’re trying to control blood sugar and insulin especially which can lead to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and death. Kudos to Sen. Padilla for bringing attention to this issue. Maybe I should try to get him on my podcast show to discuss this move legislatively in the state of California. Meanwhile, federal lawmakers are considering a tax on sugary soda to help pay for health care costs associated with sugar consumption.

VITAMIN D: A NATURAL REMEDY FOR THE SWINE FLU?

Yes, we know all about the health benefits of increasing your Vitamin D levels in your body, but could it protect against the dreaded H1N1 virus known as swine flu? With people getting flu shots left and right around the world, the Public Health Agency of Canada is taking a look at how Vitamin D supplementation could be a part of the reason why some people are prone to getting this dreaded virus. In 2008 when my Vitamin D levels were at 42, I knew I needed to do something about it. So I started taking 10,000 IU daily of Vitamin D3 gelcaps and in just six months my levels rose to 68. I’ve been taking about 4,000-5,000 IU daily ever since and HIGHLY recommend it for a variety of reasons. If you can possibly protect yourself from the ravages of swine flu just by supplementing with and getting adequate Vitamin D from the sun, why wouldn’t you?

AN OBESE WOMAN WHO MADE MILLIONS FROM AN ‘EXTREME DIET’

Hmmm, at first glance you might think I’d be referring to a well-known diet scam artist who I’ve featured here at my blog many times, but alas this is yet another one who hails from the Bahamas and runs a weight loss company called LighterLife. There’s just one problem — the owner Jackie Cox weighs nearly 200 pounds on her 5’2″ body frame. Take a look at her diet plan and see if it looks familiar: ultra-low-calorie, marketed as “fast, simple and safe,” and has led to a series of health complications. Although this isn’t the Kimkins diet, it sure sounds a lot like it. But now with the tragic death of a 34-year-old woman who was following the diet, it makes me all the more passionate about getting the word out about any and every diet schemer whose only desire is to make a buck off the emotional need for weight loss that people feel. It’s sickening beyond belief and I for one won’t stand for it without a fight!

MICHAEL POLLAN COLUMN ON THE DIETARY CONNECTION TO HEALTH

This is why I believe President Obama should have taken my recommendation and chosen Michael Pollan to lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture in his Cabinet. The man knows what he’s talking about (as you can hear in this YouTube video) and pens a masterful response to those who think our health care crisis has to do with the logistics of the care itself. But like I shared in this blog post a couple of weeks ago, we don’t have a problem with health care as much as we do a preventative disease epidemic that could be brought under control if people would begin making better choices for the sake of their weight and health.

Diabetes, heart disease, and cancer are ripping through Americans at record levels and yet all of these could be improved or completely eradicated by a good low-carb lifestyle change. Pollan echoes that three out of every four dollars spent on health care today goes to a chronic disease that is preventable. Hundreds of billions of dollars going down the tube because somebody chooses to keep drinking their sugary sodas and downing their Little Debbie snack cakes to “save money.” Who are we kidding?

If universal government-run health care is passed into law, then get ready for the food industry to feel the brunt of it because government health leaders already know what is gobbling up precious medical expense dollars in this country. This could be both revolutionary and frightening at the same time when a bureaucrat will decide whether my low-carb diet is healthy enough for me to be consuming if I want to have quality care if and when I need it. Of course, if it reigns in all the sugary foods and beverages people are consuming, it could be a good thing. Pollan’s column makes you think!

By the way, healthy employees should be rewarded for taking good care of themselves. Isn’t that fair?

IS HEART DISEASE ANSWER IN ‘GOOD CALORIES BAD CALORIES’?

Maybe I’m starting to make a positive impact on some of my podcast guests who didn’t necessarily embrace all the concepts of healthy low-carb living when I interviewed them, but they’re coming around. Take Dr. Steve Parker, for example. This column appeared on Monica Reinagel’s “Nutrition Data” blog where Dr. Parker refers to Gary Taubes’ book Good Calories Bad Calories as “a brilliant book” that physicians should read. He expressed concern that this book which has been heralded by low-carbers and non-low-carbers alike has been “ignored by many academic establishment-type nutritionists, physicians, and researchers.” Dr. Parker went on to say that Taubes’ book is “well-argued and supported by numerous scientific references,” and yet reviews of it do not appear in any of the major medical journals that are out there. Isn’t it great that medical professionals are finding this treasure and now encouraging their colleagues to learn from it, too?

SAM’S CLUB CARRYING ALL-NATURAL STEVIA SWEETENER

The plant-based stevia sweetener is becoming more and more prevalent in mainstream grocery stores and big box stores like Sam's Club. It brought a big smile on my face the other day when I saw this box of stevia packets being sold at my local Sam's. I believe it won't be long until my sponsor Truvia will be available in restaurants and in foods and beverages. That would be a whole heckuva lot better than the aspartame (NASTY-tame!) they put in just about everything right now!

FDA BUSTS CHEERIOS’ HEART-HEALTHY CLAIM

Well, hallelujah, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration calls the bluff of General Mills when they claim that their Cheerios cereal will “lower cholesterol” by 4% because of the so-called “healthy” whole grains in them. The nauseating “nutrition expert” lady used in the news story about this is absolutely clueless. Christine and I ran into this when we were walking through Wal-mart recently:

It’s so shameful that people buy into this cereal diet sham that will only make you fatter and unhealthier than ever before. If you are lowering your cholesterol, it’s not nearly as significant as what happens when you start livin’ la vida low-carb. Triglycerides plummet, HDL “good” cholesterol rises, and you become much healthier than you ever will eating cereal. PERIOD!

SUSTAINABLE FOOD WEB SITES EDUCATE CONSUMERS ABOUT THEIR FOOD

There’s a movement underway in America where more and more people are beginning to embrace the whole concept of sustainable, locally grown food thanks to groups like Sustainable Table. Rather than settling for the highly-manufactured and poorly fed and grown food found at most grocery stores, many people are turning to their local farmers and farmer’s markets to get quality foods to feed their families. A couple of resources to help you find the good food in your area include The Eat Well Guide where you can find where local sustainable organic food is in your area as well as The Global Grocer so you can see the likely origin and other facts about the fresh, frozen, or shelved foods in their supermarket. For example, garlic consumed in the United States over the past 15 years has gone from being a crop mostly grown in the U.S. to one largely imported from China. EEEK! Use these empowering web sites early and often!

USA TODAY NAMES 6,000 ‘MOST INFLUENTIAL DOCS’–NO LOW-CARBERS?

You have got to be kidding me! The #1 newspaper in America is USA Today and they put together a list of the “Most Influential Doctors” as compiled by an analysis done by medical information firm Qforma. They identified about a group of top physicians treating patients in chronic and prevalent disease states, including specialty areas like hypertension, high cholesterol, asthma and diabetes in over 300 metropolitan areas across the United States. Qforma says they wanted to “recognize some of our country’s less visible yet highly remarkable community physicians who apply their expertise to help patients every day.”

So surely on this voluminous list of the best of the best with high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, and asthma issues there will be at least one low-carb doctor, right? NOPE! Look up the state of New York where the legendary Dr. Richard Bernstein who has been treating patients with diabetes for decades practices medicine. He HAS to be listed there guaranteed, right? Not a chance. How about the amazing low-carb practitioner Dr. Mary C. Vernon helping diabetes patients in Kansas? She’s not on the list either. And neither is low-carb researcher and physician Dr. Eric Westman in North Carolina who is lowering cholesterol, blood pressure, and insulin numbers in diabetics, too. With all the dramatic improvements that are being seen in the lives of patients in the offices of carbohydrate-restriction medical professionals all across the country, isn’t it odd that not a single one is included in this list of the most influential? Something is wrong with this picture!

NEW NUTRISYSTEM D PROGRAM IS A LOW-CARB DIABETIC DIET

Low-carb is taking hold in the weight loss community and the major players are noticing the trend. That’s why Nutrisystem has decided to create a “NEW program clinically tested to lose weight, to help lower blood sugar and control your type 2 diabetes.” Gee, I wonder what that could be? You guessed it, it’s livin’ la vida low-carb, baby, described as “a low-Glycemic Index program full of good carbs and fiber to help control your blood sugar levels and keep you feeling fuller longer.” Yeah, yeah, yeah, market it however you need to about the supposedly “good” carbs, but we know it is carbohydrate-restriction which has been proven in major studies like this one to control A1c, blood sugar, and insulin levels while producing weight loss in Type 2 diabetics. This is nothing new here, but it’s good to see a company like Nutrisystem lending credence to what works for people with diabetes.

‘QUESTIONS ARE THE ANSWER’ CONNECT PATIENTS AND DOCTORS

On the heels of me sharing with you about a new FREE service called MedEfficio last week, I have another one to share with you direct from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and their new “Questions Are the Answer” web site. Encouraging patients to get more involved with their health care, this web site gives you the kinds of questions you should ask your doctor the next time you go to see him. A checklist of questions are available for when you get a prescription, when you have a medical test, when you’ve been diagnosed with a condition, when you are considering treatment options, when surgery is recommended, when you are looking into getting health insurance, when you are wanting to find a new doctor or hospital, and whether you need long-term care or not. It lets you also create your own questions that can be checked off as you ask each one directly to your provider. This is a really neat service that goes hand-in-hand with MedEfficio.

9 YEAR-OLD EPILEPTIC FED ICE CREAM AND STEAK TO CONTROL SEIZURES

Last month I featured a podcast interview with Dr. Deborah Snyder about the miraculous effects of putting children with epilepsy on a high-fat, low-carb ketogenic diet to control their seizures and now we have this story highlighting a beautiful little girl named Lucy who gets to eat foods like nuts, low-carb pancakes, butter, cheese, oils, steak, and sugar-free ice cream all day while keeping her carbs to around 20g daily. What an EXCELLENT story about the ketogenic diet, including the fact that “the diet puts the body into fat-burning mode, so it produces complex chemical compounds called ketones that block seizures in the brain.” Can you imagine if future reporting of low-carb diets sounded this positive? Don’t hold your breath, but KUDOS to UK Mail journalist Luke Salkeld for sharing the truth.

SUGAR VETERAN COMBATS SWEDISH LOW-CARB MOVEMENT IN LANCET

Finally, I’ve been keeping my eye on the continuing developments on behalf of livin’ la vida low-carb in the nation of Sweden where low-carb heroes like Dr. Annika Dahlqvist are fighting strong on behalf of carbohydrate-restriction. It appears this has made an impact on a former sugar industry veteran named Jim Mann who wrote an opinion piece in the September 5, 2009 issue of the prestigious medical journal The Lancet where he expressed his honest thoughts about the whole LCHF (low-carb, high-fat) nutritional movement happening in the nation of Sweden right now.

Mann’s conclusion: “There are some lessons here for international agencies, professional organisations, and governmental and regulatory bodies. Perhaps one of the most important is the need for internationally accepted criteria for evidence-based nutrition guidelines as there are for evidence-based medicine.”

Welcome to the fray finally, Mr. Mann. It appears from the post on the blog of Swedish low-carb advocate Dr. Andreas Eenfeldt that you’re just now coming around to enlightenment after pushing high-carb, low-fat diets for many years. This is GREAT news for international supporters of low-carb living and I encourage others to keep speaking out about what is happening right now with LCHF in Sweden.

That’s all the low-carb news and health headlines I have for you right now, but we’ll have more to share again soon! Send me your items of interest for inclusion in future posts by e-mailing me anytime at livinlowcarbman@charter.net. I’ll try to continue keeping you up-to-date on the most cutting-edge nutritional information out there, so THANK YOU for reading!

Social networking has become almost as synonymous with the online world as blogging over the past year or so. People are reconnecting with friends from their past and staying in touch just like old times again. It really is a [...]]]>
Facebook is fun, but watch out for crafty hackers who want to spoil it

Social networking has become almost as synonymous with the online world as blogging over the past year or so. People are reconnecting with friends from their past and staying in touch just like old times again. It really is a uniquely 21st Century phenomenon that has brought the world much closer together than ever before. While many of the kids and teenagers enjoy hanging out on MySpace, a growing contingent of people are turning to Facebook to chronicle all that is happening in their lives with their list of friends.

I have my own Facebook page and so does my wife Christine (who’s addicted to it now!). With my 20-year high school reunion coming up next year, this has been the perfect way to communicate with former classmates about what we are planning to do. The neat thing is brand new people are coming to Facebook all the time, so it’s like a reunion whenever you reconnect with people from high school, college, or who you haven’t seen in a very long time.

But with such a wonderful place comes the risk of being taken advantage of and that’s exactly what has happened this week to the 120 million active users of Facebook. A truly evil and maniacal web virus called “Koobface” disguises itself as a note from one of your Facebook “friends” with some strange messages that long-time Internet users would immediately recognize as fake. Even still, a lot of people have been victimized by this virus, including my wife Christine who was none the wiser about it when she clicked on the message from a “friend.”

What was funny to her was that she hadn’t received a message from this friend before, but she decided to check out the attached link he sent to her anyway. The message in the e-mail sent to her stated, “You look just awesome in this new movie” with an “Oh WOW!” and a link to an alleged video of you on the Internet. Here’s a screen shot of what it looked like:

When Christine clicked on the link, it took her to a page with a “Secret Video by Tom” where you receive a message stating you need to download an updated version of Adobe’s Flash player in order to watch the video. We’ve all seen these messages before and think nothing about updating older versions of frequently used software, so it didn’t look strange to Christine. Here’s what that screen looked like:

Then, if you actually download this to your desktop as instructed, your computer will become infected with the “Koobface” virus. I received several of these messages myself (including one that was supposedly from Christine) and immediately noticed what it was when I saw it. Other messages said “WOW” and “COOL VIDEO” before the link to go see the video. When you click on the link provided and it asks you to download the new Flash update, it is what is called an executable file, or .exe. Anytime you see a .exe on the end of a download, CANCEL IT! More than likely, that’s a virus. Unfortunately for Christine, she didn’t know that (although I’ve told her before) and now her computer is infected with the “Koobface” virus. She didn’t know what happened when she received this fake error message after the download:

What were the results of this “Koobface” virus infecting her PC? At first it was difficult to tell, but when Christine attempted to use a search engine for some information about a Wii game she was playing it became evident very quickly. When she attempted to click on a link she found in Google, Yahoo, MSN and others, they all redirected her to another web site at find-www.net that is involved with illegal clicks on sponsor ads. Considering the millions of people who use search engines daily, this could add up to a healthy chunk of change for those responsible for this dastardly virus.

Facebook is now aware of the “Koobface” virus and is encouraging members who have been effected by these fake e-mails from their “friends” to delete them ASAP. For those who already clicked on the .exe file and have an infected computer now, they set up this security page with directions about how to clean up the mess left behind by the virus. Don’t let this virus stay on your computer for very long because the hackers can steal your information, including credit card numbers, passwords to protected sites, and much worse. These faceless cowards who are doing this to people have no shame in upsetting the apple cart and wreaking havoc on their unsuspecting, innocent victims.

The lesson here is beware of any suspicious looking hyperlinks you receive from ANYONE unless you are absolutely sure the sender is indeed the person you think it is. While it may be difficult to tell, one clue is if the message appears to be generic or if it is specific about YOU (i.e. a generic message would be “Haven’t heard from you in a while. Let’s catch up! See what I’m up to now!” followed by a link while a specific message would state “Hey Christine, glad to see you on Facebook. Sorry to hear about your chelation treatments for your headaches and joint pain, but I hope it gets better soon. See what I’m doing now!” followed by a link). Taking precautions to protect your computer is tantamount because these hackers are heartless and inconsiderate towards their prey. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 400 million people worldwide are currently overweight or obese. Included in that number is an astonishing 20 million children under the age of five who are getting fatter faster than any other generation before it.

But could there [...]]]>
Dr. Magdalena Pasarica has found a new “fattening” virus

The World Health Organization estimates that nearly 400 million people worldwide are currently overweight or obese. Included in that number is an astonishing 20 million children under the age of five who are getting fatter faster than any other generation before it.

But could there be more to this prescient issue than overeating?

That’s something researchers are examining behind-the-scenes right now and they think a common virus found in humans is the culprit in nearly one-third of the obese, according to about the findings presented at the 234th National Meeting of the American Chemical Society on Monday in Boston, Massachusetts.

Lead researcher Dr. Magdalena Pasarica, Postdoctoral Researcher in the Endocrinology Lab at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and her fellow researchers were observing lab tests from adult male and female liposuction patients many of which had a common respiratory and eye infection-causing virus called adenovirus-36, aka Ad-36 as well as E4Orfl.

But they noticed something odd about this Ad-36 virus.

When they pulled the adult stem cells from the tissue samples and infected them with Ad-36, after one week those cells had become “fat” cells while the uninfected ones had not. In fact, when the researchers put more of the Ad-36 virus in the cells, there was an even higher amount of fat developed. The same cause and effect happened regardless of sex.

Even worse, those “fat” cells actually began collecting fat more rapidly than normal which leads to an even greater growth–of the fat cells and then of stored fat on the body. It all leads back to Ad-36 as the culprit in this fat development in the body.

The very likelihood that the Ad-36 virus could be the source of over 100 million cases of obesity is why the researchers will undoubtedly be pushing for that anti-obesity vaccine to specifically treat this viral infection. Oh boy, here we go again!

Where does it end? Sure, I will admit that there is a real possibility that some people are fat because of something other than their diet and physical activity. But don’t we all agree that the overwhelming majority of overweight and obese people have gotten that way from making poor dietary choices?

Putting the onus on an obscure virus that may or may not be the cause and making that the presumed reason for obesity grants the overweight and obese permission to do nothing pro-active about their weight and health. Instead, they’ll plop down hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars to get these various “miracle” vaccines with a myriad of possible side effects. What’s the point?

Click here to read more about this new research on a viral cause of obesity and why I believe studies like this make it more difficult to bring this growing epidemic under control.

Researchers at The University of Wisconsin-Madison, led by American Obesity Association President [...]]]> Just when you think you’ve heard it all in regards to the reasons why we have an obesity epidemic that is getting worse around the world, along comes a story like this one from Reuters which blurs the line between sensible and absurd.

Researchers at The University of Wisconsin-Madison, led by American Obesity Association President Dr. Richard L. Atkinson, claim that the sharp rise in obesity rates is attributed to a virus, according to a new study they conducted on chickens.

The human adenovirus Ad-37 is apparently the culprit in making obesity contagious in chickens, Atkinson says, and he believes additional research will find this to be true in humans as well. Adenoviruses can be transmitted through direct contact and in coughing or sneezing.

Talk is already underway to begin developing an antivirus to combat this up-and-coming threat to our waistlines. Two other related viruses, Ad-36 and Ad-5, have already been found to cause obesity in animals according to the researchers.

They conclude that the rise in obesity rates over the last three decades is faster than any other chronic disease in the United States and worldwide. The researchers say the sudden simultaneous increase in obesity cannot be explained by changes in food intake and lack of exercise. That’s why they believe these viruses are the root cause of obesity.

“The nearly simultaneous increase in the prevalence of obesity in most countries of the world is difficult to explain by changes in food intake and exercise alone, and suggests that adenoviruses could have contributed,” the authors state.

The study found that the chickens injected with the Ad-37 virus had higher concentrations of visceral fat and body fat compared with the control groups despite eating the same amount of food over a three-week period. Additionally, the Ad-37 group weighed more than the other groups, but not significantly more. The researchers concluded that the virus was what made the chickens fatter which is why they want to conduct more research on this theory.

“The role of adenoviruses in the worldwide epidemic of obesity is a critical question that demands additional research,” the authors concluded.

The study was published in the January 2006 issue of the American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology.

Okay, reality check for just a minute. Is anybody buying this bill of goods about obesity being contagious like a cold? Can anything be more outlandishly absurd than this?

When I wrote a CommonVoice column that said obesity is not an illness, but a choice in the midst of my weight loss in July 2004, this kind of study is EXACTLY what I was afraid was going to happen to the subject of obesity. When it is looked at as a disease that needs to be treated medically with drugs, then we have gone too far.

Obesity is, has always been, and will always be about people eating too much of the wrong foods while slacking off on their physical activity. The increased prevalence of sugar and it’s evil twin high fructose corn syrup in most foods today as well as the heavy promotion of the low-fat diet over the past 30 years certainly can’t be overlooked as factors in the rise of obesity.

I don’t like making the cause of obesity something that needs to be treated with a vaccine. While I am sure the scientists involved in this study are merely trying to find the root cause of a growing problem, I don’t need to do the research to realize that too many people are overconsuming carbohydrates and calories. That’s why we have an obesity problem, not some virus found in a limited study on chickens.

Studies like this give people an excuse for not regaining control over the weight problem because they think to themselves, “Oh, I must have that virus inside of me making me fat!” I’ve got three words for you: NO NO NO! If you really believe a virus is what is making you obese, then I’ve got a bridge to sell you in San Francisco.

The bottom line is we all know HOW we became overweight and obese. And it wasn’t from a virus. But there is still hope for you to triumph over your weight as I did thanks to livin’ la vida low-carb. Regardless of the method you choose for losing weight, the important thing is for you to DO SOMETHING about it as soon as possible for the sake of your health.

Don’t wait around expecting researchers like Dr. Atkinson to help you lose weight. You need to grab that bull by the horns and get to work on it yourself. With hard work and determination, you WILL succeed at losing that belly.

But, just in case, I’ll be running in the other direction if I see an obese person with a cold! :-O

Dr. Richard Atkinson even has a web site about his theory that obesity is caused by a virus and can be e-mailed at obetech@obesityvirus.com. Feel free to look into this obesity-virus phenomena closer and ask Dr. Atkinson any questions you may have about his research.